There
are some Halloween items that you are certain people would not bother to reproduce.
And some that you might think too difficult to reproduce. This is what I thought
regarding Halloween hard plastic pieces; no one would bother to reproduce
them. Wrong! Over the past several months, reproduction Rosbro hard plastic
carts have begun appearing. The items glued to the carts are authentic hard
plastic pieces but they are glued onto reproduction carts.

Originally,
most but not all of the Rosen/Rosbro hard plastic pieces were available
for sale in two versions; either on or off carts with wheels. Today, finding
a piece that is on a cart means that the item can be worth many times that
of it's value off the cart.

To
view the differences between the real and fake carts you either need to have
rather good vision or a magnifying glass. Having a known original for comparison
purposes will help too!

Of
course, once you see an Irwin or Knickerbocker design on a Rosbro cart, you
will know it's a forgery.

THESE
ARE NOT PIECES THAT ROSEN/ROSBRO SOLD IN CANADA OR ANY OTHER COUNTRY! THEY ARE
REPRODUCED CARTS!

Irwin and Knickerbocker
hard plastic on reproduction Rosbro carts!

When
purchasing a Rosbro hard plastic piece on it's cart, first look at the metal
axles. Most of the Rosbro pieces have slightly corroded axles and many have
a fair amount of rust. The reproduction carts often have shiny new axles,
but keep in mind that these can be treated with a corrosive chemical to make
the axle look more like an original. All the reproduction pieces I have found
so far have fairly shiny axles.

Below
is a sure-fire way to tell the current reproductions from the originals.
Look closely.

Front
of real cart

Front
of reproduction cart

In
the photo on the left, the real cart has an inverted letter "V"
(on the left side of the cart only) which is raised and blends into the actual
platform of the cart. The reproduced cart on the right has a harsh line, there
is no inverted "V".

The
back side of the original cart is the same as the front; there is an inverted
"V" molded on the left side when looking at the back of the cart.
On the reproduction, there is a harsh line with no "V" or blend
whatsoever.

The
plastic pieces that hold the metal axles are shorter on the reproduced carts
by about 1 mm than those on the original carts.

I
have also found a difference in the molding of the actual wheels, it is very
slight, but with good vision or a magnifying glass, it is highly visible.
I will post photos here as soon as I have them.

A
few original hard plastic pieces - all with reproduction carts

Reproductions
are fine when sold as reproductions, a reproduction created to deceive is
fraud.